I discovered KAAY at an early age. When I was 6 years old (1970), I learned that I could hear radio stations from other cities and states after dark. Stations that never came in during the daytime hours became audible after the sun went down. KAAY is the first one I remember hearing and identifying. I asked my mother where Little Rock was and she showed it to me on a Rand McNally road atlas. This kid was amazed that he could pick up a station from so far away! Taking a look at KAAY’s nighttime signal pattern, it’s easy to understand why: their “figure 8” is oriented NNE and SSW. The main northern lobe points directly at Minnesota. They actually made it into CANADA back in the day! I spent many hours listening to Clyde Clifford’s Beaker Street when I was supposed to be sleeping. On winter mornings, I could wake up with Sonny Martin and George G. Jennings until the sun came up at around 7:30.
This brief aircheck was recorded during the last days of KAAY as a contemporary music station. FM had pretty much taken over by that time, and KAAY was soon to become a religious station. All I have is this one break which was recorded as part of a routine dial scan. Beaker Street was long gone, but The Mighty 1090’s rock crusher signal was still there. Notice it’s strength and loudness.
Reception was made from my location in Apple Valley, Minnesota, using a Pioneer SX-3900 receiver and horizontal long wire antenna. For recording purposes, a Technics stereo cassette deck and Scotch Dynarange tape was used.